Cartridge for the carbon ribbon of a typewriter, calculating machine, accounting machine or like office machines

ABSTRACT

A cartridge for the carbon ribbon of an office machine, comprises a parallelepipedal container in which are rotatable a feed spool and a take-up spool for the carbon ribbon. The carbon ribbon passes from the feed spool out of a first aperture and back into the container through a second aperture in the container. The container has at the bottom an opening arranged in the proximity of the take-up spool and adapted to receive a pair of ribbon feed rollers mounted on the machine on which the cartridge is, in use, fitted. The container is provided with guide and friction means disposed between the take-up spool and the second aperture for frictionally conveying the carbon ribbon towards the take-up spool along a predetermined path.

United States Patent t191 Guerrini et al.

[541 CARTRIDGE FOR THE CARBON RIBBON OF A TYPEWRITER, CALCULATINGMACHINE, ACCOUNTING MACHINE OR LIKE OFFICE MACHINES [75] Inventors:Gianpaolo Guerrini, Ivrea; Giuseppe Oddicini, Banchette, both of Italy[73] Assignee: Ing. C. Olivetti & C., S.p.A., Torino,

Italy [22] Filed: sept. 27, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 292,597

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 2, 1973 Italy 942662/73 [52]U.S. Cl 197/151; 242/8451 A [51] Int. Cl B41j 33/14 [58] Field of Search197/151, 168,175; 242/8451 R, 84.51 A

[56] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 386,705 7/1888 Graham242/8451 R 437,119 9/1890 Kennedy 197/175 UX 945,035 l/1910 Goodhue197/175 UX 2,809,738 10/1957 Lambert 197/175 2,869,705 l/l959 Gates197/151 3,027,113 3/1962 Berger etal. 242/8451 A X 3,349,887 10/19673,425,532 2/1969 3,490,671 l/197O 3,513,957 5/1970 Ricciardi et al.197/151 [451 Apr. 15, 1975 3,604,549 9/1971 Caudill et al. 197/1513,618,869 11/1971 Cialone et al.....

3,632,052 l/l972 Read 197/151 UX 3,682,407 8/1972 Lichtenstein et al.197/151 x OTHER PUBLICATIONS Primary Examiner-Ernest T. Wright, Jr.Attorney, Agent, or Firm-l. J. Schaefer [57] ABSTRACT A cartridge forthe carbon ribbon of an office machine, comprises a parallelepipedalcontainer in which are rotatable a feed spool and a take-up spool forthe carbon ribbon. The carbon ribbon passes from the feed spool out of afirst aperture and back into the container through a second aperture inthe container. The container has at the bottom an opening arranged inthe proximity of the take-up spool and adapted to receive a pair ofribbon feed rollers mounted on the machine on which the cartridge is, inuse, fitted. The container is provided with guide and friction meansdisposed between the take-up spool and the second aperture forfrictionally conveyingl the carbon ribbon towards the take-up spoolalong a predetermined path.

6 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures CARTRIDGE FOR THE CARBON RIBBON OF ATYPEWRITER, CALCULATING MACHINE. ACCOUNTING MACHINE OR LIKE OFFICEMACHINES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to acartridge for the carbon ribbon of a typewriter. calculating machine.accounting machine or other office machines. wherein the cartridgecomprises a container of substantiallyl parallelepipedal form in whichare rotatable a feed spool and a take-up spool for the ribbon. whichextends outside the cartridge through a printing point. leaving andre-entering the container through two apertures in the container whichare adjacent the spools.

A carbon-ribbon cartridge of the aforesaid type is known in which thecarbon ribbon is unwound from the feed spool with the aid of a firstdriving roller carried by an arm pivoted to the machine and adjacent thefeed spool. This roller is held in resilient Contact with the ribbonagainst a pressure roller rotatably mounted in the cartridge. After theribbon has been passed through the two apertures. it is guided over asecond driving roller synchronous with the first and is collected on thetake-up spool, which is rotated in turn by an independent mechanism.Owing to the presence of the pressure roller and the second drivingroller in the cartridge. this cartridge is rather complicated and thecost of production is rather high. Moreover. since the first drivingroller is carried by the machine and the pressure roller is carried bythe cartridge. it is difficult to ensure parallelism between the tworollers. In the absence of this parallelism` the limited thickness ofthe carbon ribbon causes imperfect contact between the first roller andthe ribbon. with the risk of breakage or of the ribbon slackening at theprinting point.

There is also known another carbon-ribbon cartridge of the aforesaidtype in which a driving pin for the advancing device is housed in a slotor groove in the cartridge which is radial with respect to the take-upspool. The driving pin is carried by an arm pivoted to the machine andnormally bears through the action ofa spring against the turns of ribbonwound on the take-up spool. Through adherence or contact` the pin causesthe ribbon to advance and causes the spool to rotate at constantperipheral speed. Adherence or contact between the driving pin and theribbon is ensured by the tension of the corresponding spring acting onthe movable arm. This tension is at a minimum when only a few turns arewound on the take-up spool. which it increases with the increase in thenumber of wound turns owing to the pin moving away from the axis of thespool. This produces the disadvantage of inadequate adherence in thefirst period of use and of excessive tension in the last period of use.There may therefore be printing irregularities at the beginning of theperiod of use of the cartridge and risks of breaking at the end of thisperiod.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is toproduce a carbon-ribbon cartridge in which the advance or feed of theribbon can be effected by a pair of rollers. namely a driving roller anda pressure roller. ofthe machine. and which is of relatively low costand which can be mounted securely' and simply on the machine.

According to the present invention, there is provided a cartridge forthe carbon ribbon of an office machine.

comprising a container of substantially parallelepipedal form in whichare rotatable a feed spool and a take-up spool for the carbon ribbon.The carbon ribbon passing from the feed spool out of a first apertureand back into the container through a second aperture in the container.which apertures are adjacent the spools respectively` the containerhaving at the bottom an opening arranged in the proximity of the take-upspool and adapted to receive a pair of ribbon feed rollers mounted onthe machine on which the cartridge is. in use. fitted. guide andfriction means being disposed between the said opening and the secondaperture for checking the carbon ribbon directed to the said rollers andconveying it towards the take-up spool along a path which is independentof the amount of carbon ribbon received through the region of engagementwith the rollers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING A preferred embodiment of the inventionis presented by way of example in the following description and shown inthe accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a partial plan view of ari inked-ribbon cartridge embodyingthe invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view. partly in section, of the cartridge of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. l, thecarbon-ribbon cartridge 6 comprises a container 5 of plastic materialwhich is of substantially parallelepipedal f orm. The container 5comprises a bottom l, a rear wall 2, two side walls 3 and a front wall4. The cartridge 6 has in the rear wall 2 of the container 5 twoapertures 7 and 8 which are adapted to permit the passage of a carbonribbon 9. Adjacent each of the apertures 7, 8 is a projection ll, l2respectively. which is adapted to support a portion of the carbon ribbon9 when the cartridge 6 is not mounted on the machine.

The container 5 is divided by a central rib 16 into two substantiallyequal chambers I7 and I8 and is closed at the top by a cover 2l. Thecartridge 6 is held fixed removably on a support l5 (FIG. 2) of themachine, for example by a pair of resilient tongues 13 and 14 whichengage laterally in corresponding slots in the side walls 3 of thecontainer.5 in manner known per se.

In the chamber 17 (FIG. l) there is housed a feed spool 22 on which iswound the carbon ribbon 9, the spool 22 being constituted by a hollowtube 23 and a bottom flange 24. The lower end of the tube 23 bears onthe bottom l of the container 5 and the spool 22 (FIG. 2) is guided atthe bottom and top by means of the tube 23 by two coaxial sleeves 26 and27 integral with the bottom l of the container 5 and the cover 2lrespectively.

The flange 24 is provided with two pairs of concentric slots and 25connected by two radial slots 30 of which only one is shown in FIG. l.The slots 20, 25 and define two diametrically opposed arcuate tongues 28and 29. These tongues 28, 29 project at the bottom from the plane of theflange 24 to bear resiliently on a notched or serrated ring 31 (FIG. l)projecting from the bottom l of the container S and having a highcoefficient of friction, which prevents the spool 22 turning freelyabout the sleeves 26 and 27, and thus prevents slackening of the turnsof the wound carbon ribbon 9.

ln the chamber 17 there is moreover housed a cylindrical element 32immediately adjacent the aperture 7 and the projection 11, for guidingthe carbon ribbon 9 towards the aperture 7.

ln the chamber 18 there is housed a take-up spool 33 constituted by atube 34 (FIG. 2) and two flanges 36. The lower end of the tube 34 bearson the bottom l of the container and the spool 33 is guided at the topby a sleeve 37 on the cover 21. The tube 34 has inside it four suitablyshaped teeth 38 adapted to engage with notches 39 of inverted pyramidalform in a shaft 4l of the machine. This shaft 41 is accommodated in ahole 42 in the bottom 1 of the container 5 and forms part of africtional rotation device for the spool 33, this device being known perse and not shown in the drawing.

ln the chamber 18 (FIG. l) there are arranged guide and friction meansfor the carbon ribbon 9 which comprise a pair of tongues 43 and 46leading towards the aperture 8. The tongue 43 is connected to the rearwall 2 of the container 5 immediately adjacent the aperture 8 and has aterminal portion in the form of a circular sector with a radius slightlylarger than that of the flanges 36. The tongue 46 is disposed oppositethe circular portion of the tongue 43 so as to define a channel 47through which the carbon ribbon 9 passes. The tongue 46 terminates in acylindrical element 48 on which the carbon ribbon 9 bears. Anothercurved tongue 49 is disposed at the side of the cylindrical element 48in such manner that the carbon ribbon 9 guided lby the channel 47 firstfollows a rectilinear path and then, guided by the element 48 and by thetongue 49, follows a V-shaped path towards the front corner of thecartridge 6 adjacent the spool 33. Another curved tongue 5l also in theform of a circular sector finally guides the carbon ribbon 9 towards thespool 33. The ribbon-guiding tongues 43, 46, 49 and 51 are fixed to thebottom 1 of the container 5 and have a height substantially equal to theheight of the carbon ribbon 9.

At the corner of the containers 5 adjacent the spool 33 which isopposite the aperture 8, the container 5 is provided at the bottom lwith an opening S2 disposed in `correspondence with the tongues 49 and51. The opening 52 is adapted to receive a driving roller 53 and apressure roller 54 mounted on a member 55 ofa feed device ofthe machine,which device is known per se and not shown in the drawing.

The roller 53 is freely engaged at the bottom in a part of the opening52 which is defined in the part facing the spool 33 between the tongues49and 5l. The pressure roller 54 is urged resilientlyagainst the roller53 and is accommodated at the location of a break in the front wall 4and side wall 3 of the container 5 converging towards the corner inwhich the opening 52 is formed. ln this way, the roller 54 presses thecarbon ribbon 9 against the roller 53 with a lateral movement. Thecarbon ribbon 9 is caused to advance or is fed in the operative positionof the cartridge 6 by the rotation of the roller 53, while the take-upspool 33 is caused to rotate by the shaft 41 independent of the roller53. During the advance of the carbon ribbon 9, the friction between thetongue 28 of the spool 22 and the ring 3l and the friction encounteredby the `ribbon 9 from the guide and friction means 43, 46, 48, 49, and51 already' described ensures a movement of the carbon ribbon 9 freefrom slackening or over-tension.

When the'c'artridge 6 is removed from the machine, the guide andfriction means 43, 46, 48, 49 and 51 already described prevent theribbon 9 from occupying that part of the opening 52 which is intendedfor the driving roller 53, allowing convenient and secure mounting ofthe cartridge 6 on the machine. The tongues 49 and 51, moreover, preventcontact of any possible slackened turns of the spool 33 with the roller53 or 54.

Finally, the cartridge 6 has at the rear in the cover 2l a window 56formed over the take-up spool 33.- The window S6 permits manual rotationofa milled edge 57 of the top flange 36 for rotating the spool 33clockwise and recovering the carbon ribbon 9, therefore placing it undertension after the cartridge 6 has been mounted on the support l5 of themachine.

We claim:

1. A carbon ribbon cartridge removably mounted on a feed device of atypewriter, calculating machine, accounting machine or other officemachines including a motive shaft, a first feed roller, and a secondfeed roller movable from a position wherein said first and said secondfeed rollers are separated by a gap to another position wherein saidsecond feed roller pinches a carbon ribbon against said feed roller forfeeding said carbon ribbon,

said cartridge comprising:

a container of substantially parallelepipedal form and having a bottomportion and a top portion;

a feed spool on which said carbon ribbon is normally wound;

a take-up spool for receiving said carbon ribbon;

means for rotatably supporting said feed spool and said take-up spool insaid container between said bottom and said top portions;

bon extending through said first aperture to the exterior of saidcontainer;

a second aperture in said container. said carbon ribbon returning to theinterior of said container through said second aperture, said first andsaid second apertures being adjacent said feed spool and said take-upspool respectively;

a third aperture in said bottom portion enabling said motive shaft toenter in said container so as to drive said take-up spool for receivingsaid carbon ribbon;

an opening at said bottom portion of said container, said opening beingarranged in the proximity of said take-up spool so as to receive saidfirst and said second feed rollers for pulling said carbon ribbon towardsaid take-up spool;

first guide means of said container disposed be tween said secondaperture and said opening for checking said carbon ribbon from saidsecond aperture to said opening; and

second guide means of said container disposed between said opening andsaid take-up spool for checking said carbon ribbon from said opening tosaid take-up spool so as to cause said carbon ribbon to pass over saidopening along a path included on said gap.

2. A cartridge as in claim 1 wherein said top portion of said containerincludes a substantially flat wall, said take-up spool including anupper flange adjacent to said flat wall, and said flat wall including awindow over 5 said upper flange for manually rewinding said carbonribbon on said take-up spool.

3. A cartridge according to claim l wherein said container includes asubstantially flat wall having a notched ring, said feel spoolcomprising a flange adjacent to said notched ring, and said flangeincluding a resilient tongue projecting towards said notched ring fromsaid flange and rubbing on said notched ring to prevent undesirablerotation of said feed spool.

4. A cartridge for a carbon ribbon removably' mountable on a feed deviceof a typewriter, calculating machine, accounting machine or other officemachine including driving means and a pair of feed rollers for pullingsaid carbon ribbon` said cartridge comprising:

a container of substantially parallelepipedal form having a bottom part,a top part and a side part;

a feed spool fixing one end of said carbon ribbon and on which saidcarbon ribbon is normally wound;

a take-up spool fixing the other end of said carbon ribbon andconnectable to said driving means for receiving said carbon ribbon. saidfeed spool and said take-up spool being rotatably supported in theinterior of said container between said bottom part and said top part;

said side part including a first aperture and a second aperture, saidfirst aperture being adjacent said feed spool and said second aperturebeing adjacent said take-up spool;

said bottom part including an opening adjacent said take-up spool forreceiving said pair of feed rollers;

said carbon ribbon extending outside said container through said firstaperture and returning to the interior of said container through saidsecond aperture; and guide and friction means checking said carbonribbon in the interior of said container so as to cause said carbonribbon to be frictionally shifted by said pair of feed rollers towardssaid take-up spool along a path which is independent of the amount ofsaid carbon ribbon received by said take-up spool, said guide andfriction means including: a pair of tongues adjacent said secondaperture; a cylindrical element adjacent said pair of tongues; a firstcurved tongue disposed between said cylindrical element and said openingfor conveying said carbon ribbon along a V-shaped path towards saidopening, and a second curved tongue for guiding said carbon ribbon fromsaid opening towards said take-up spool. 5. A cartridge according toclaim 4, wherein said first curved tongue and said second curved tonguedefine a portion of said opening` said portion accommodating one rollerof said pair of feed rollers, said first curved tongue and said secondcurved tongue being shaped and positioned to prevent contact of anypossible slackened length of said carbon ribbon with said one roller. 6.A cartridge according to claim 5, wherein said opening is formed in acorner of said container, said side part of said container including twowalls converging towards said corner. and said two walls beinginterrupted to define a second portion of said opening for accommodatingthe other roller of said pair of' rollers. =l =l I i UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT No. 3,877,561

DATED April 15, 1975 INVENTOR(S) Gian Paolo Guerrini et al It iscertified that error appears in the above-identified patent and thatsaid Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

On the first page in "Foreign Application Priority Data" delete "Apr. 2,1973 and substitute Oet. 4,'197land delete "942662/73 Signed and ,Sealedthis SEAL l v twenly-ffthl Day 0f November`1975 A nest:

R Axslllg-SON l C. MARSHALL DANN I! lflfvf Commissioner nflarenls am!Trademarks

1. A carbon ribbon cartridge removably mounted on a feed device of atypewriter, calculating machine, accounting machine or other officemachines including a motive shaft, a first feed roller, and a secondfeed roller movable from a position wherein said first and said secondfeed rollers are separated by a gap to another position wherein saidsecond feed roller pinches a carbon ribbon against said feed roller forfeeding said carbon ribbon, said cartridge comprising: a container ofsubstantially parallelepipedal form and having a bottom portion and atop portion; a feed spool on which said carbon ribbon is normally wound;a take-up spool for receiving said carbon ribbon; means for rotatablysupporting said feed spool and said take-up spool in said containerbetween said bottom and said top portions; a first aperture in saidcontainer, said carbon ribbon extending through said first aperture tothe exterior of said container; a second aperture in said container,said carbon ribbon returning to the interior of said container throughsaid second aperture, said first and said second apertures beingadjacent said feed spool and said take-up spool respectively; a thirdaperture in said bottom portion enabling said motive shaft to enter insaid container so as to drive said take-up spool for receiving saidcarbon ribbon; an opening at said bottom portion of said container, saidopening being arranged in the proximity of said take-up spool so as toreceive said first and said second feed rollers for pulling said carbonribbon toward said take-up spool; first guide means of said containerdisposed between said second aperture and said opening for checking saidcarbon ribbon from said second aperture to said opening; and secondguide means of said container disposed between said opening and saidtake-up spool for checking said carbon ribbon from said opening to saidtake-up spool so as to cause said carbon ribbon to pass over saidopening along a path included on said gap.
 2. A cartridge as in claim 1wherein said top portion of said container includes a substantially flatwall, said take-up spool including an upper flange adjacent to said flatwall, and said flat wall including a window over said upper flange formanually rewinding said carbon ribbon on said take-up spool.
 3. Acartridge according to claim 1 wherein said container includes asubstantially flat wall having a notched ring, said feel spoolcomprising a flange adjacent to said notched ring, and said flangeincluding a resilient tongue projecting towards said notched ring fromsaid flange and rubbing on said notched ring to prevent undesirablerotation of said feed spool.
 4. A cartridge for a carbon ribbonremovably mountable on a feed device of a typewriter, calculatingmachine, accounting machine or other office machine including drivingmeans and a pair of feed rollers for pulling said carbon ribbon, saidcartridge comprising: a container of substantially parallelepipedal formhaving a bottom part, a top part and a side part; a feed spool fiXingone end of said carbon ribbon and on which said carbon ribbon isnormally wound; a take-up spool fixing the other end of said carbonribbon and connectable to said driving means for receiving said carbonribbon, said feed spool and said take-up spool being rotatably supportedin the interior of said container between said bottom part and said toppart; said side part including a first aperture and a second aperture,said first aperture being adjacent said feed spool and said secondaperture being adjacent said take-up spool; said bottom part includingan opening adjacent said take-up spool for receiving said pair of feedrollers; said carbon ribbon extending outside said container throughsaid first aperture and returning to the interior of said containerthrough said second aperture; and guide and friction means checking saidcarbon ribbon in the interior of said container so as to cause saidcarbon ribbon to be frictionally shifted by said pair of feed rollerstowards said take-up spool along a path which is independent of theamount of said carbon ribbon received by said take-up spool, said guideand friction means including: a pair of tongues adjacent said secondaperture; a cylindrical element adjacent said pair of tongues; a firstcurved tongue disposed between said cylindrical element and said openingfor conveying said carbon ribbon along a V-shaped path towards saidopening, and a second curved tongue for guiding said carbon ribbon fromsaid opening towards said take-up spool.
 5. A cartridge according toclaim 4, wherein said first curved tongue and said second curved tonguedefine a portion of said opening, said portion accommodating one rollerof said pair of feed rollers, said first curved tongue and said secondcurved tongue being shaped and positioned to prevent contact of anypossible slackened length of said carbon ribbon with said one roller. 6.A cartridge according to claim 5, wherein said opening is formed in acorner of said container, said side part of said container including twowalls converging towards said corner, and said two walls beinginterrupted to define a second portion of said opening for accommodatingthe other roller of said pair of rollers.